Man Detained At Airport For Threatening to Blow up Kolkata-Mumbai Jet Flight

A man on Kolkata-Mumbai Jet Airways flight was detained at Kolkata airport on Monday by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) after he allegedly posted a picture with mask on the face on ‘Snapchat’ and with ‘terrorist on flight’ as caption.

The Jet Airways flight 9W 472, going to Mumbai, was taxiing on the runway for take-off at 8:15 am when a passenger saw the man posting the photo with the words “terrorist, destroy”.

The 21 year old man has been identified as Baguihati resident Yogvedant Poddar, who was travelling to Mumbai from Kolkata for a job interview.

According to an officer, Poddar boarded flight number 9W-472 around 7:30 am. While the boarding was still on, he took out his phone, covered his face with a handkerchief and took a picture of himself. He then captioned it as “terrorist on flight, I destroy woman’s heart” and sent it to six of his friends.

A co-passenger, sitting next to him, was intrigued by his “strange” behaviour and immediately alerted the cabin crew, who in turn informed the pilot and CISF officers.

A team of officers was rushed to the aircraft and Poddar was detained for questioning. “He was visibly traumatized and told the officers that he is not a terrorist. He pleaded innocence and told the officers that he was just playing a prank with his friends.”

When asked why he had covered his face with handkerchief, the officer said, “He was suffering from cold.” The team spoke to his parents and after complete verification, he was allowed to leave for Mumbai in the same flight around 9:37 am. “It is unfortunate that the flight was delayed because of him,” the officer added.

The security has been heightened across the country, especially Mumbai as India is marking the 10th anniversary of 2008 Mumbai terror attack.